Page v
INTRODUCTION.
THE present volume, completing Part III. of the English Charlemagne Romance series, requires but little introduction. I have already referred to it in my edition of Sir Ferumbras, Introd. pp. viii, ix. It contains the whole life of Charlemagne, with a brief sketch of the early kings of France, and includes all the incidents narrated in Sir Ferumbras, The Sowdone of Babyloyne, Roland and Vernagu, and the Song of Roland.
Caxton's "Lyf of the Noble and Crysten Prynce, Charles the Grete" survives only in the unique copy preserved in the British Museum (Press Mark c. 10, b. 9). It is a folio volume, containing 96 leaves, the signatures running from A ij to M viij, and is perfect, but without title-page. The colophon tells us that the "werke was fynysshed̛ in the reducyng of hit in to Englysshe the xviij day of Juyn, the second̛ yere of kyng̛ Rychard̛ the thyrd̛, and̛ the yere of our lord̛ MCCCCLXXXV, and̛ enprynted̛ the fyrst day of decembre the same of our lord̛, & the fyrst yere of kyng Harry the seuenth."
The type is that classed by Mr. Blades as 4*. The pages have two columns, each containing 39 lines, and each line measuring 2 3/8 inches. There are neither folios nor catchwords. The initial woodcut letters are 3 lines deep.
In 1743 the volume was sold by R. Harley to Osborne the bookseller, the price not mentioned. In 1773 it became the property of J. Ratcliffe at a cost of £13, and in 1776 it was sold by him to George III for £4. 4. 0.
As Caxton himself tells us, the work here reprinted is a translation of the French prose romance of Fierabras, itself a compilation